Traffic Safety

Changing your driving habits could save lives.
As a driver in the Cedar Valley, it is your responsibility to do your part in preventing automobile crashes. Who knows? You may one day help to save a life – maybe even your own.

Children are future drivers.
Start talking to children about safe driving behavior very early in their lives, as young as 5 years old. By the time they are teenagers it will be much harder to influence them. Traffic fatalities are number one killer of teenagers. Protect your child in the future by making routine conversations about traffic safety now.

Get back to these safety basics.The following tips and statistics are from the NHTSA and Drive for Life organization. Drive for Life is a national outreach effort reminding United States motorists of the real hazards associated with modern-day driving.

Use restraint.
Failure to use safety belts and improper use of child restraints remain a major contributor to traffic injuries and fatalities. Studies report that between 73% and 75% of child restraints are improperly installed or used.

Don’t drink alcohol.
Alcohol-related deaths account for 41% of total traffic fatalities or an average of one every 30 minutes.

Don’t drive while fatigued.
In the past five years, 1.35 million drivers involved in a car crash attributed it to drowsiness.

Observe the speed limit.
In 2002, speeding was a contributing factor in 31% of all fatal crashes, and 13,713 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes. At least eight in 10 drivers admit to speeding at least monthly on each road type.

Don’t be distracted.
More than 1.5 million police-reported crashes involved some kind of driver distraction.

Lookout for bicyclists and pedestrians.
In 2003, 4,749 pedestrians were reported to have been killed in motor vehicle crashes in the United States.

Emphasize safety among younger drivers. Teen drivers pose a higher risk for vehicle crashes. According to the Insurance Safety Institute, in 2002, the estimated economic cost of police reported crashes involving young drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 was $40.8 billion.